SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Seton Hall pitcher Corey Young struck out a career-high 13 and limited Rutgers to four hits as the Scarlet Knights fell to the Pirates, 4-0, Saturday night at Owen T. Carroll Field to snap RU's four-game winning streak.
The Pirates' hurler retired the Scarlet Knights in order in the first, third and sixth innings, scattering just four hits in eight scoreless innings of work as SHU improved to 27-16 overall and 13-7 in the BIG EAST. RU, which took Friday' series opener, moved to 17-22-1 overall and 7-10 in the league.
After three scoreless innings, Rutgers threatened to push across the first run of the game in the fourth. RU loaded the bases with two outs, but Young got Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) to ground out to second base to end the inning.
Seton Hall's Matt Skopak hit a one-out triple down the right-field line in the bottom half of the inning and scored one pitch later on a Sean Gusrang sacrifice fly to center to put the Pirates up, 1-0.
The Scarlet Knights put a runner in scoring position in the fifth when Vic Cegles (Phoenix, Ariz.) opened the frame with a single and was sacrificed over, and RU nearly tied it up when Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, N.J.) found a hole through the left side for a two out single. Cegles raced around third and headed for home on the play but a good throw from left fielder Matt Smedberg to Skopak, who tagged Cegles out at home, prevented the run.
SHU's Dan Lopez drew a leadoff walk from Rutgers starter Jason Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) in the sixth and stole second to move into scoring position. Skopak then laid down a bunt to third base and beat it out for a single, but the aggressive Lopez rounded third and headed for home on the play where and alert Cegles, who made the putout at first base, fired home to catcher Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.), who applied the tag for the out. Reliever Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) replaced Downey later in the inning and got out of a bases-loaded jam with a pair of fly outs as RU ended the inning unscathed.
Skopack pushed across a run for the Pirates in the seventh with a man on third when he lined a ball down the right-field line for the second time in the game to give Seton Hall its second run of the contest.
Rutgers got a man on second in the eighth thanks to a leadoff walk from Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.), but Young struck out the side - for the second time in the game - to preserve the shutout.
The Pirates built their lead to three runs with back-to-back extra-base-base hits with two outs in the eighth from Chris Affinito and Greg Miller against Lillis. Mark Pappas then knocked in a fourth run off an RBI single to center field off newly-inserted reliever Ryan Beard (Point Pleasant, N.J.).
Downey (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season, despite surrendering just one run on six hits in 5.1 innings. Young improved to 7-2 with his standout performance for the Pirates.
Cegles extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single up the middle in the fifth.
Rutgers will conclude its series with Seton Hall with a 1:00 p.m. game at Owen T. Carroll Field tomorrow as both teams look for the series-clinching victory. Sophomore righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will be on the mound for the Scarlet Knights against junior righty Greg Miller for the Pirates.
